Chain Rule

We all know that Orson Welles drew his inspiration for the film “Citizen Kane” from the life of William Randolph Hearst. But over time, the character called Kane has become so conflated with the man named Hearst that we tend to think of the movie as a biopic. Kenneth Whyte’s The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst separates the myths from the reality.

Comments [3]

Crikey, Brooke and OTM. Brian is correct. You fall over yourselves to present "balance" as if there is some equivalency. Where has the left distorted information in anything remotely this way? For that matter, where does anything more then centre-left even get a voice in the media?

In the supposedly liberal media much right wing stories and framings amply propagate whilst there's an allergy to anything progressive that might actually challenge power and conventional wisdom. That would be outside American journalism's restrictive conventional range of debate and therefore not serious, no matter the facts of the matter.

I suspect Brian gives more credit than due in assuming you're referees that mean well but are played by teams on the court. Likely, most of you see yourselves as sensible, clever centrists whose credentials are proved when fielding complaints from what you lump into two sides. The truth need not have a side. Brietbart concocts videos, which beginning with ACORN were breathlessly, credulously reported by corporate media at the time, continue to be reported as if the fabricated ACORN events occurred, and now OTM (in congruence with the rest of the media) acts as if the "left" does this too. Again, where has this happened?

It's reasons like this and the recent Wikileaks story falling in line to cover for Washington (of all the angles to examine - of Wikileaks implications - you chose that?) that I will not donate any amount. You must earn it. You do well enough on some stories to keep me listening, just by a thread, but it's repeatedly demonstrated the fundraisers and worldview you really serve. So, I'm not going to set myself back any bucks unless I see more return for investment.

Sweet Jesus Christ. You can't even cite Breitbart's slander against Shirley Sherrod as an example of yellow journalism without including an unspecified, "but the left does it too!" to show you have balance. How about for a future episode you do an examination on political pressure and the battered wife syndrome in the media?